very minor note on "lady"

[Margaret Lee]

Speaking of "old woman," I know someone whose nickname since birth was "Old 
Woman." Now she really is an old woman (in her 60's).

--Margaret Lee   
 




________________________________
From: victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Sent: Mon, April 18, 2011 1:33:09 AM
Subject: Re: very minor note on "lady"

 For either a
fraternal address or for an impolite address to an older man, you can
just say the equivalent of "old man". To address a woman as "old
woman" ([starukha]) is close to insulting.

As I was just thinking about it, in light of this exchange, I only now
realized how incredibly counterintuitive these connections are.

VS-)

On Mon, Apr 18, 2011 at 1:00 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Sun, Apr 17, 2011 at 8:07 PM, Jonathan Lighter
> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Thus, "auntie," as directed by whites toward older black women, seems to
>> have originated as a neutral, even affable, usage. (I almost said "polite,"
>> but let's not get carried away.)
>>
>
> My WAG is that "aunt, uncle" were probably rgarded as sarcasm, when
> applied to black women. I agree that, in the older usage, it was
> clearly meant to be deferential. But "Aunt Jemima" and uncles "Ben"
> and "Remus" were definitely in the serving class.
>
>
> --
> -Wilson

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org